Altitude Mask Effective??

[Tamu8104]

So with my current work schedule a lot of my workouts are short (30 minutes) and indoors. I was wondering if an altitude mask might help me maximize the time. Anyone utilized an altitude and found it to be effective? Was there a difference in FTP?

Thanks

[Too Tall]

Need a link and what protocol you intend to follow. Any device which restricts O2 during exercise would be dumb.

[boots2000]

What is your fitness level and what is holding you back.
If you are already near your maximum power on your efforts during that 30 minute workout- maybe.
If you need to work on power- no.
Weren't you asking about powermeters before and debating cost of those?
I say that an altitude device is way down on the list compared to a powermeter-

The thing that some do not realize about altitude masks/tents, etc. is that they are not a "free gain".
They are an additional stress that may or may not work well.
Current thinking is that they are best used for preparing for an elevation event when living at sea level.

[spopepro]

Current thought is you want all the air you can while training... it's the recovery (sleep) at reduced O2 that makes your body overcompensate on that end.

Unless you have a very specific plan and goal, reducing O2 while training will be very effective at making you tired... and not much else.

[zachateseverything]

Current thought is you want all the air you can while training... it's the recovery (sleep) at reduced O2 that makes your body overcompensate on that end.

Unless you have a very specific plan and goal, reducing O2 while training will be very effective at making you tired... and not much else.

There are some proponents out there of doing hypoxic interval work for intervals of 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Allen Lim is one. On one of the Mike Creed podcasts he mentioned how Tim Duggan was one of the few guys that took his suggestion to try that protocol (holding your breath for interval work) and it paid big dividends for him. Then again, Allen has worked with a lot of dopers.

But if I only had 30 minutes for my workouts, I'd probably either try to save up and consolidate those half hours into one longer and fun activity, change my goals, and/or re-examine my time management skills.

[Tamu8104]

@boots2000 I'm not sure what you are referencing but I'm pretty sure it wasn't me. I've had and trained with power for a while. I haven't been on a training schedule for the past two years because I was working on a masters in addition to work and that didn't allow time to race.

All, I'm done with school now and have time on the weekends but during the week, I have limited time. I've been doing short interval workouts and running to try to maximize time but looking for other options. Typically short workouts tend to fatigue if the intevals go beyond VO2 max and I was wondering if there was a way to focus the effort on stressing the lung/heart more than the strength/muscle type intervals do.

[spopepro]

There are some proponents out there of doing hypoxic interval work for intervals of 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Allen Lim is one. On one of the Mike Creed podcasts he mentioned how Tim Duggan was one of the few guys that took his suggestion to try that protocol (holding your breath for interval work) and it paid big dividends for him. Then again, Allen has worked with a lot of dopers.

But if I only had 30 minutes for my workouts, I'd probably either try to save up and consolidate those half hours into one longer and fun activity, change my goals, and/or re-examine my time management skills.

Yeah, I can see that. But that sounds like a big helping of anaerobic/neuromuscular stress that is built on the base of someone like Mike Creed, who was one hard dude.

[zachateseverything]

Yeah, I can see that. But that sounds like a big helping of anaerobic/neuromuscular stress that is built on the base of someone like Mike Creed, who was one hard dude.

I'd agree with that. This would be more for someone looking for that final bit to be able to go with the big moves. The theory is that it's supposed to help condition your brain to let you go deeper into that awful "hey! I'm not getting enough oxygen so I'm going to make you see stars until you wise up and slow the fuck down!" feeling. I doubt it'd translate very much into aerobic improvements without a huge level of base fitness.

In any regard, I don't think the typical press photo package of guys just doing a normal workout in an altitude chamber is going to do a whole lot. I think there's probably some benefit to sleeping in an altitude tent, but you have to be able to handle the potential increase in training stress and decrease in sleep quality if you're going to go that route. From what I understand from guys I know with altitude tents locally, the performance gains are super transient and it's best suited to prep for races at altitude.